Alexander Pichushkin, accused of killing dozens of people, looks on from behind a glass security cage during the first day of his trial in Moscow, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007. After his arrest last year,... (Associated Press)

(Newser)
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A confessed serial killer goes on trial today in Moscow, charged in the murders of at least 49 people. Alexander Pichushkin wanted to kill one person for each of the 64 squares on a chessboard, and after being arrested last year, he said in a TV interview that "a life without murder is like a life without food," Time reports.

Pichushkin, 33, who requested a jury trial—unusual in Russia—has admitted to more killings than the police can prove; investigators had to be convinced of his enthusiastic confessions. He apparently started in 1992, the same year the "Butcher of Rostov," Pichushkin’s inspiration, was convicted of mutilating and murdering 53 women and children.